Programme specification
Summary details
Programme title
Artist Diploma in Music
Duration and modes of study
One year (three terms) full-time. Part-time study is not available.
Awards by level
The Artist Diploma is at SCQF Level 11.
No exit award is available to students who do not complete the full programme.
Credit framework
120 credits at level 11
Date of validation
March 2020
Start date
September 2020
Next review date
2025
The Conservatoire curriculum:
- Develops excellence alongside high levels of reflection in all of our disciplines.
- Fosters the creative attitudes and skills needed for collaborative learning in and through practice.
- Enables students to take responsibility for managing and evaluating their own learning.
- Provides students with insight into a diversity of artistic fields and experience of what is required to succeed in their individual arts practice.
- Develops the ability to use theoretical understanding to inform practice and practice to inform theory.
- Enables students to make a contribution in the world as artists, educators, advocates and active citizens.
The Conservatoire graduate:
Is an excellent and reflective arts practitioner and leads, creates, achieves and innovates. Conservatoire Graduates understand that the highest level of risk and daring offers the greatest potential for achievement and fulfilment.
Has the creative attitudes and skills needed for collaborative learning and has sophisticated skills in leading, building and working in teams. As adaptable and confident people, Conservatoire graduates are used to taking risks and working positively with ambiguity and unpredictability.
Takes responsibility for managing and evaluating their own learning and is resourceful, independent and effective in their approach to managing their life and work.
Has insight into a diversity of artistic fields and experience of what is required to succeed in their individual arts practice and can respond quickly to a fast changing and dynamic world. Conservatoire graduates have a professionally-orientated, entrepreneurial outlook and respond positively to new opportunities and challenges.
Uses theoretical understanding to inform practice and practice to inform theory and combines sophisticated aesthetic and emotional intelligence, integrity and insight with an ability to think analytically and critically.
Makes a contribution in the world, as an artist, educator, advocate and active citizen and uses highly developed skills to communicate a profound appreciation of how their artistic discipline connects with the real world.
Programme aims
The Artist Diploma in Music is designed to:
- Encourage the development of a distinctive musical personality
- Offer a rich learning environment that nurtures the individual artist in relation to the wider context of their practice
- Provide opportunities for performance and composition, and support students in creating their own opportunities
- Promote professional autonomy and resilience through a confident, reflective and critical approach to their musicianship
- Support students in articulating clearly the questions and insights that form the basis of their artistic practice
Programme learning outcomes
On the completion of the ArtDip you are expected to be able to:
PLO1 Realise, recreate, create, manipulate and/or produce music to a high professional level, expressing your artistic concepts in a well-developed musical personality
PLO2 Evidence sophisticated craft skills at the forefront of the discipline, creating coherent musical experiences across a range of repertoires, styles, forms and genres
PLO3 Take responsibility for engagement between context, audience and musical material, projecting your ideas fluently and with confidence in a range of contexts
PLO4 Demonstrate sophisticated knowledge of practices, languages, materials, technologies and techniques relevant to your discipline, and their associated texts, resources and concepts
PLO5 Engage with a significant level of critical self-reflection in relation to your artistic practice
Admission criteria
Academic entry requirements
Candidates are normally expected to hold an existing Masters degree or its overseas equivalent in a subject area relevant to the demands of the programme.
Language of study
The language of study is English. Applicants whose first language is not English will be required to provide evidence of proficiency in English. We accept the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Level 6.0 (with a minimum score of 5.5 in each component) is required of applicants to the School of Music.
Target numbers
Minimum cohort: 0
Maximum cohort: 10
Programme structure
| Module | Level | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Principal Project | 11 | 80 |
| Supporting Project | 11 | 40 |
| Total | 120 |
Programme content
Principal Project
- 80 credits, 800 hours
- 27 weeks one-to-one tuition @ 0.75 hours per week = 20.25 hours
- independent study (over 30 weeks) ~26 hours per week
Supporting Project
- 40 credits, 400 hours
- 22 weeks, 6 hours of supervision
- independent study (over 30 weeks) ~13 hours per week
Learning outcomes by module
| Module | PLO1 | PLO2 | PLO3 | PLO4 | PLO5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Principal Project | • | • | • | ||
| Supporting Project | • | • | • |
Benchmarks
The learning outcomes of your programme are aligned with a number of local, national and international standards. The UK Quality Code for Higher Education (UKQCHQ, QAA 2018) lays out a series of formal 'expectations', including that 'the academic standards of courses meet the requirements of the relevant national qualifications framework'. In Scotland, these comprise the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF 2019) and The Framework for Qualifications of Higher Education Institutions in Scotland (FQHEIS, QAA 2018).
In accordance with the SCQF/FQHEIS, the Artist Diploma meets the requirement that a Postgraduate Diploma in Scotland allocate a minimum of 120 credit points, of which at least 100 are at SCQF Level 11. The programme and module learning outcomes have been benchmarked against the SCQF Level Descriptors (SCQF 2015), while the programme as a whole meets the requirements of the UKQCHQ Descriptor for a higher education qualification at level 7 on the FHEQ and SCQF level 11 on the FQHEIS: master's degree (QAA 2018).
In addition to these fundamental standards, the programme aims and learning outcomes also take account of:
- the relevant sections of the Conservatoire's Postgraduate Academic Framework, that are themselves based upon FQHEIS
- the Characteristics Statement: Master's Degree (QAA 2015)
- the Dublin descriptors for second cycle awards (EHAA 2005)
- the 'Polifonia'/Dublin Descriptors for second cycle awards in higher music education (AEC 2007)
- the AEC Learning Outcomes 2017 (AEC 2017)
The Conservatoire – then the RSAMD – became in 1993/4 the first UK institution of its kind to be granted degree-awarding powers. We take pride in the care and rigour with which we design our degrees: you can be fully confident in the academic standing of the Artist Diploma.
Areas of study
The ArtDip is available to performers in the following disciplines:
- All string, woodwind and brass instruments, solo, chamber or orchestral
- Guitar and harp
- Timpani and percussion, including marimba
- Piano solo and ensemble, harpsichord, organ, accordion
- Vocal performance
- Traditional performance
- Jazz performance
It is not available for Conducting, Composition, Historically Informed Performance Practice, Piano for Dance, or Repetiteurship.
Singers accepted onto this programme will normally work within the Department of Vocal Performance: any work with the Opera department will be exceptional and by negotiation.